ToolTipController Component

The ToolTipController component provides centralized management for the appearance and behavior of hints in DevExpress controls and any other controls. The functionality of the tooltip controller is encapsulated by the ToolTipController class. This topic provides general information on the ToolTipController component and lists the main settings that affect tooltip appearance.

ToolTip Controller

The ToolTipController provides properties that allow the appearance and behavior settings of tooltips to be customized. The ToolTipController component must be bound to a control in order to enable tooltip management. So if multiple controls are bound to the same ToolTipController, they will all have the same look-and-feel and behavior.

Note

DevExpress controls do not necessarily need to be bound to a ToolTipController component. If they are not bound to a ToolTipController, the tooltips for these controls are handled by the static Default ToolTipController. See the section below for more information.

Usually a tooltip's contents (title, text and icon) are determined by the control that the tooltip is displayed for. However, ToolTipController exposes the events to dynamically customize the contents and appearance of tooltips for any control and control's element.

The following table lists the main properties and events declared in the ToolTipController class.

Default ToolTip Controller

It is not necessary to place a ToolTipController component onto a form and bind it to controls in order to enable hint customization and management. Instead you can use the Default ToolTipController component that manages tooltips for any control by default. In code, the Default ToolTipController can be accessed via the static ToolTipController.DefaultController property. To access it at design time, place the DefaultToolTipController component onto a form.

You can customize the settings and subscribe to events of the Default ToolTipController in the same manner as for the regular ToolTipController component.

A note for the DevExpress controls and components that provide the ToolTipController property: if this property is set to an instance of the ToolTipController type, the tooltips for this control will be handled by the assigned ToolTipController and not by the Default ToolTipController.

Scenarios of Using the ToolTip Controller

The following table lists the common scenarios to customize tooltips for controls.

Task

Scenario(s)

Provide centralized management for tooltips for all controls within an application.

Use the Default ToolTipController.

Customize tooltips differently for different controls.

- Assign different ToolTipController components to different controls. The Default ToolTipController can be used to handle tooltips for the controls whose ToolTipController properties are not set.

- Use a single ToolTipController component for all controls and handle its events to customize tooltips dynamically.